ABSTRACT
The conversion of some of the least useful Liners into Iron Cased Ships would at all events give in the shortest Time good means of Defence at Home. Clarendon relayed that Napoleon III was doing his best to control the Anglophobia now rife in France, and while he had assured Prince Metternich of his intention to make every sacrifice to maintain friendly relations with England, if ultimately forced into a rupture by public opinion he promised to make war on England with such vigour and such means as shall at once put an end to the affair. Soon after, the British Embassy forwarded intelligence to Russell that it was next to impossible to penetrate sides with any known projectile. The Controller had responded to the War Office at the end of 1860 that it was not at present proposed to make any further experiments to ascertain the best description of iron for plating ships, and resisting projectiles.
